MOHAWKS. A Novel. In Three Volumes by [Braddon, Mary Elizabeth] - 1886

1886. By the Author of "Lady Audley's Secret," "Vixen," "Ishmael," etc. London: John and Robert Maxwell, [1886]. Original dark green cloth with spine lettered in gilt.

First Edition (after serialization in Belgravia) of this novel by the founder of the intricately plotted sensation novel, particularly known for her transgressive heroines. It is no coincidence that her early novels were published by Maxwell: in 1861 she had moved in with John, but since he already had five children by his wife who was confined to a mental asylum in Ireland, she did not marry him until 1874, when his first wife died; they then married, but already had numerous children themselves. MOHAWKS was the last of Braddon's books to be published under the Maxwell imprint [and curiously is undated on its title pages]. This historical novel begins in 1708 and ends in 1727, the year of George II's coronation. The plot centers around two girls who have been switched at birth and features many actual historical figures, including Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, Sir Robert Walpole, Lady Mary Wortley Montague, [Lord] Bolingbroke, and George I [Beller]. The three volumes were issued without half-titles. This is a remarkably close-to-fine copy, with scarcely any wear (a few tiny faint speckles on the cloth, a couple of string-indents on board edges); the original endpapers are intact. Sadleir (XIX) 314; Wolff 672 ("MEB's first effort at historical fiction since ROBERT AINSLEIGH (1872)").